Yep, this is the second time I have a consecutive Sunday Currently, and this one is published on a Monday too! What’s happening to me? A short explanation is that life has been gnarly recently and hasn’t been kind to my blogging schedule. That and my phone’s camera conked out and I haven’t been able to take decent pictures for my reviews. Owell, enough with the excuses! I hope to do much better this week and the succeeding ones, as December is going to be very exciting!

Side note: I have decided that I’ll simply not include the categories that won’t have anything new or noteworthy. I don’t really clutter the blog up so much.

Reading

At the time of this writing, I have just finished rereading The Hunger Games trilogy. This was driven mainly by my recent watching of Mockingjay Part 1 (see Watching, below). It is still one of my favorite reads, and has become somewhat of a comfort read to me. Some time in the future I want to get a good printed version (I only have a digital version currently).

Writing

I’ve started formatting my new Moleskine planner into the form I’ve been dreaming of. It’s not yet perfect, but I think it’s getting there. I’m quite excited to start the new year because of that!

Listening

My husband, daughter, and I are huge fans of musicals, and one of our recent favorites is Little Shop of Horrors. It’s a pretty depressing musical, but the songs are so good! Feed Me is my particular favorite.

Watching

My husband gamely went with me to watch Mockingjay Part 1 (as he did with the last two movies in the series). It was pretty good, we thought, although the biggest complaint we both had was about the pace; there really was no need to split it into two movies as Part 1 felt too slow. It was a treat to watch though, and I thought that Jennifer Lawrence really played a great Katniss. Can’t wait to see Part 2 and see my husband’s reaction to the twists (he didn’t read the books).

Clicking

I recently made a pinterest board for Planner Inspirations, as I’m so hooked into my new Moleskine planner at the moment. I’m also reading through Bullet Journal, which I’m planning to do in the planner as well.

Eating

One of my favorite places to eat at is Mad for Pizza, at Il Terrazzo Tomas Morato. The hook is that you get to design your own pizza from a wide array of choices for the dough, sauce, and toppings. Pretty addicting, and freshly baked pizza is so good!

Thinking

December has come, and with that I always consider gifts. I always like to give gifts to the people that provide regular service to my family, such as house help, laundry, and vet to name a few. It’s a good way to give thanks for their service beyond just providing them their regular salary/payments. I’m thinking of what to give them this year, which is honestly a good problem to have!

Feeling

Just a little overwhelmed. Okay maybe a lot. There is something I am attempting with the blog, hopefully you’ll see it soon. I hope I don’t mess it up!

How has your week been? Mine has been pretty okay, and the highlight of the week was the quarterly parent-teacher conference and a trip to the vet with two cats. Both have been quite productive and enlightening.

Reading

Would you believe I’m not reading anything at the moment? Que horror! I do have a long reading list, and I should get on with it. Oooh, does reading comics count? My husband has me reading this comic called Journey Into Mystery, the premise of which is that after Loki tore the worlds apart and also saved it, he died and got reincarnated into a young boy, and the comic is basically what happens to him as a young Loki. Very interesting stuff, and I’m only at the beginning!

Image credits: Marvel Wikia

Writing

I bought myself a new planner, and I’m looking forward to using all those delicious pages to write. At this point I’ll be happy to be writing anything, just to get those muscles warmed up again.

Listening

Nothing interesting here, unfortunately. What should I be doing with categories that has nothing interesting?

Watching

My daughter and I are rewatching the anime Hataraku Maou-sama!, the premise of which is basically the devil (Maou) being transported into our modern world with his lieutenant, losing most of their powers, and being forced to work (hataraku) in a fast food restaurant to stay alive. I really enjoy the story and humor and premise, and there is an underlying idea of having to grow up to progress.

Image credit: Zerochan

Playing

I did end up getting Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, and that’s mostly what I’ve been playing recently. It’s vastly superior to the prior version, and the quest mechanism is really fun.

Clicking

Planner hacks is what I’m interested in lately. I like looking at people’s take on their ideal planners, and I like the crafty side of it. I bought myself some stickers and stuff for my new planner, and I can’t wait to get started!

Eating

Another good rediscovery is Sushi-ya, a great affordable Japanese restaurant. We ate at the Robinsons Galleria branch. We always get the bento set for two, with tori teriyaki for the main dish. It’s quite filling and there’s a good variety of dishes included in the set.

Cooking

This week my husband cooked his classic fried chicken drumsticks, again using Crispy Fry for the breading. Apparently my daughter really likes it enough that she ate three!

Wearing

I found myself in need of new slacks to wear to the office, so I trooped over to SM to get a couple. My non-negotiable criteria for slacks are: must have functional pockets (none of those tiny-ass ones, or heaven forbid, the fake pockets); must be straight or flared (ie not tapered); must not be scratchy. Luckily there’s this brand that had styles that fit me, and I got a bonus bag because I hit their minimum amount. Not bad!

Thinking

I’m trying to distract myself from thinking of this, but I am so far failing. Where do I want this blog to go? Right now it is definitely a hobby, and I have learned so much and gained so much from this hobby. But as with all hobbies, there are costs both monetary and timewise. It is a little hard to balance all things in life, and usually one of the first things to go would be hobbies. Quite honestly I don’t want this hobby to end as this is my main creative outlet at the moment. In point of fact, I keep thinking of how to make this blog to become better. Decisions, decisions..

Wanting

More kitties! Haha, joking. … or am I? My vet threatened that it won’t stop with just one and she was right. I can’t believe I now have two cats (and a dog), and I find myself considering more. I know there will be limits to how much my house can accommodate cats and I think it is near that limit. However I am not closing myself to the idea of rescuing more kittens in need.

Feeling

Anticipatory. There are a lot of things happening in December, work-wise and personal. I am mostly excited, and am looking forward to these things.

My biggest fear right now has come to pass. Having two consecutive The Sunday Currently means it’s already been a week since my last post! Unfortunately I’m on a writing block right now, but I’m hoping the upcoming week brings fresh aspects. Here’s to hoping for more blog motivations!

Reading

I’ve finished reading Dune, and it ended the way I thought it would. Very satisfying! Now I’m reading a pair of children’s comic books called Pilandokomiks by Borg Sinaban, which I got from Komikon 2014 held yesterday.

Writing

The question is more of what I should be writing. I really should be blogging, but this week was quite crazy in terms of work schedule that I couldn’t find the time and motivation for.

Listening

Recently hooked on Final Fantasy music, due to my playing of Theatrhythm on the 3DS. My favorites are the following, which are incidentally from my two favorite iterations of FF:

To Zanarkand, Final Fantasy X

Melodies of Life, Final Fantasy IX (spoilers)

Watching

We’re still watching Bleach slowly, like maybe one episode per week. We also watched Big Hero 6 at the cinemas and we all loved it.

Playing

I already mentioned Teatrhythm Final Fantasy in the Listening category. It is a musical rhythm game on the 3DS, played very similar to things like O2Jam (wow old school!). I like it so much that I’m considering buying the “upgraded” one called Teatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, which has more of everything plus extras!

Image credits: Final Fantasy Wikia

Clicking

Clicker Heroes is a great time waster, and runs on the background once you get the engine going! I warn you against clicking it, because you might get hooked!

I’ve found nice long sleeved shirts at Cotton On. It’s perfect for the cooling weather and can be rolled up in case it gets really hot. I chanced upon a sale and got the shirts for Php600 each. It’s not quite the sweaters I was looking for, but it’s good enough!

Thinking

Friendships. I’ve had an unlucky run where I didn’t realize I was being taken advantage of for a ridiculously long time. I think I just realized it when I had to deal with my daughter getting bullied at her old school (I just basically transferred her to a school that suits her better). It’s really hard when you realize that things have not been going as well as they seemed at the time. It’s even harder to consider cutting ties with what you thought were lifetime friends.

Wanting

What I always want more of is time. There seems to be less and less of it everyday. Either that, or I just want to do more and more things! It might not really be a time management issue anymore, but rather, hobby management.

Feeling

Still exhausted, but I took a few days off work to catch up on rest. (Un)Fortunately it got a bit interrupted when we rescued another kitten. This kitten was found alone near my car, dirty and hurt. The vet said it has a dislocated hip and was possibly hit lightly by a vehicle. It is doing much better now, and we named it Lucky.

One of Bea’s most recent posts is something called The Sunday Currently. It is apparently a tag or a weekly writing prompt (origin here) with twelve headings to show what is going on with one’s life. I’ve seen it also on Carina’s personal blog (Nothing Spaces). I really love the idea of something that briefly shows a snapshot of one’s life, and it’s interesting to see how things change over time. Many of the headings were fairly redundant (in my opinion), so I tweaked it a bit to fit into my life more. I’m calling it the Geeky Version (since that’s still what I identify as, mostly). I also wanted a way to put in some part of my personal life here in my blog, without necessarily crowding out the beauty blogging.

Reading

Dune by Frank Herbert, strangely and embarrassingly enough; I am a little ashamed to admit that I haven’t read this one before. It’s about a noble family taking over the administration of a hostile planet and finding that things are a bit more complicated than expected (talk about understatement). It’s one of the classic science fiction works, and it stands the test of time beautifully. I’m in the last part of the books and I can’t wait to see what happens.

I was debating whether or not to include this heading, as I don’t really write outside of blogging. That could be a challenge, I thought, and see if I could actually start writing fiction again. Whenever I think of writing fiction, I’m always reminded of a time long ago when I wrote a very short scifi story for a school assignment I believe. Part of the assignment is having your work peer-reviewed. You guessed it: I had a really bad experience with the peer review, and was embarrassed beyond words. I think that was one of the biggest things that blocked me from writing again. With this weekly thing I’m hoping I can start overcoming it and start writing (and sharing) again.

Listening

This was another one of the categories I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep, as I tend to be very broad with what I want to listen to. I decided to keep it to see how my music tastes changes over time. This week I was very much into the percussive guitar genre and two of my favorites are Rylynn by Andy McKee and Passionflower by Jon Gomm. I love having my percussive guitar playlist on the background while I’m working as it’s very soothing and calming without making me sleepy.

Watching

This is one of the new categories I introduced. My geeky family and I have a looooong list of things to watch, and I thought this would be a great way to track which ones we should be finishing and stuff. Right now we’re still in the middle of watching Bleach and we’re enjoying it very much. We’re trying to finish Season 6 (The Arrancar) and I’m happy that the plot is finally moving along. We’re also aiming to watch Big Hero 6 hopefully this weekend.

Playing

This is definitely a heading I wanted to include here. I am always playing a game in some form or another, and I thought, like Watching, it would be great to see which ones I’ve finished over the weeks. The challenge here is to, well, prevent this category from overcrowding the rest of the post! Nowadays I’m very much into playing my 3DSXL, and the game I’m in the middle of right now is Bravely Default. I was looking for a modern Final Fantasy type game with a great job system, and this is it! I think I’ve just passed the halfway point, and I’m already hoping they would release a sequel.

Now I’m not entirely sure what this is supposed to be. I click a lot of things; I practically live on the internet. What then should I share? Perhaps at this point I’ll share where I click most often: my RSS reader, Inoreader. I like it mostly because it’s the closest to the original Google Reader that I was previously using. Very clean format and no frills.

Eating

Ah, what a conundrum this is. I love eating, that’s why I included this new category! It’s gonna be hard choosing just one to share, but let me start with one of my favorite places to eat: Omakase. It’s the go-to Japanese restaurant for my husband and I, and so far we have found nothing that can beat their sushi and maki. Our favorite branch is at Il Terrazzo, Tomas Morato (QC).

Again a new category I added, as I also love cooking. There’s barely any time to cook these days, but once upon a time I cooked my baon regularly. Recently we try to have a regular home-cooked breakfast on the weekends, which my daughter really enjoys. We would usually have some fried eggs, pandesal, and either bacon, corned beef, or spam.

Wearing

Sweaters! It’s nearly or even practically sweater weather, and I’m loving these right now. I want to get more! Any suggestions?

Thinking

Time management, to be honest. I find it very hard to find time to do all the things I want to do (not to mention the things I need to do) and I couldn’t determine why. I would always blame travel time but I’m not sure if that’s the only reason.

Wanting

I definitely want a lot of things! But right now in my immediate purchasing future I intend to buy a bigger everyday bag. The bag I am using right now cannot fit my 3DSXL and I would like to have it with me inside the same bag instead of carrying it separately.

Feeling

Exhausted. I feel super stretched with no end in sight, and I’m just glad I can sneak in a bit of blogging and video gaming every now and then to keep sanity intact. I feel that once I resolve that issue with time management, the stress will be reduced automatically. Let’s hope for the best!

I’d be interested to see your sundays currently! Let me know if you’ve started your own!

We’ve all heard about buyer’s regret; we may have even experienced it once or twice (or more times). What surprised me recently is that it’s possible to regret not buying. I suppose it shouldn’t really be that surprising. After all, this is what fuels the idea of limited edition releases (I’m looking at you, MAC).

This post is to let you know that I am officially regretting not purchasing a couple of limited edition items, and now they are, well, no longer available.

LORAC Mega Pro

Image credits: Lorac Cosmetics

I mentioned to Liz that I wasn’t too thrilled when I saw Temptalia‘s take on the Mega Pro. Temptalia didn’t seem too impressed, especially comparing to the original Pro and Pro2. For some reason I put a lot of value in her recommendation, so I scoffed and did not place an order. It made sense, I thought, since I don’t even own either of the original Pros yet.

About two weeks later I saw some bloggers start posting looks using the Mega Pro. Cue that sinking feeling in the stomach. It looks and applies much better than the review stated. I should have gotten it since it has 32 shades for $59, making it the single palette I will probably have been using forever.

Lesson learned: Do read more reviews other than Temptalia. Third/fourth opinion and all that.

NARS Audacious Lipstick in Angela

Image credits: Makeup and Beauty Blog

The NARS Audacious range is all the rage even until today. I didn’t immediately jump on the bandwagon primarily because the price is quite steep. Php1650 for a single lipstick seemed a bit too much, even if it’s quite possibly one of the best formulas released. The packaging is also very nice, and the shade Angela seemed like a really safe bet.

I even got to swatch it! I found it at the NARS counter at Glorietta, but I didn’t have the moolah then to purchase it. And besides, I was again reminded that it costs Php1650, so I dithered and said I’ll just return for it maybe the week after. From the lesson learned with the Mega Pro, I took to the internet and was comforted by various positive reviews of Angela. My husband even okayed it! I went immediately back and yep, you guessed it. Sold out. Rushed to the one other branch in my travel range (Shangri-la) and yep, still sold out. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Lesson learned: I’m not sure what the lesson learned here. Should I have bought it, knowing that 1. it was out of my budget to be sure and 2. it would have been an impulse buy?

One of my highlights for last week was finally attending the Watercolor Workshop by Liz of Project Vanity. I missed the first session and I was so happy that she offered a second session that I signed up as soon as I could! The workshop was held last October 18 at the Commune (a cafe along Dela Costa St, Makati City). My daughter is into art so I thought I’d surprise her with her own slot in the workshop. When we arrived the workshop venue was pretty packed! Liz has lots of watercolor fans!

We were provided with all the materials we needed for the workshop: watercolor paper, a set of beginner’s watercolors, brushes, a mixing palette. After a short lecture on the basics of watercolor, we got our hands dirty and did the drills. In this worksheet we tried different washes (flat wash, graduated, variegated, glazing, dry brush) and textures (stippling, stamping, salting).

Clearly my daughter knew what she was doing. Her worksheet looks so much better. She let drop that she may have done this in her art subject in school already. (??!!)

The participants were really enjoying the drills. That is, until Liz unveiled the application of all those different washes and textures. We were instructed to paint a tree, a garlic bulb, and a landscape, which looked pretty daunting looking at the final products! Liz broke it down into steps (which were all really made up of a combination of the above mentioned washes and textures) which made it all seem easy. This is what I came up with.

Not bad I suppose, although Liz did say that my tree needed more water (the mantra of the workshop!). I really liked doing the landscape!

At some point my daughter decided to paint more trees and a sunset/sunrise, and even had a little cartoon drawing on the bottom right. Grabe, I felt so… behind, at that point.

The experience was really great! I learned a lot of stuff and I went out of there inspired to continue to paint. I definitely have a long way to go, but the workshop taught me that I can learn it even at this stage in my life. Thanks Liz for holding this #watercolorworkshopbyliz!

Here’s a bit of a personal background: I never had a pet growing up. I have vague memories of a big fluffy white dog around the backyard of my parents’ house, but I also remember that it ran away. My next “pet” was a (slightly deranged) shihtzu given to me by a “friend”, but it basically became my mom’s because I was busy studying and didn’t really spend any time with the dog. However, I’ve always believed I am a dog person. Once we decided that my daughter is ready for a pet, my husband and I bought (!) and adopted a puppy off the old sulit site. I know, I know, I should’ve just gotten a rescue, but I didn’t know better back then.

This is Zelda, supposedly a dachsund-shihtzu hybrid. She’s been with my family for about 2.5 years now and is well integrated and well loved. I’ve been dreaming of getting more dogs, preferably the bigger breeds like labs because I love big dogs.

About three weeks ago, a stray kitten wandered into my in-laws’ house (in the same neighborhood) and decided to stay. It would have been a good arrangement, except my sister-in-law has a puppy that thinks that the kitten is a toy. The puppy would bite and maul the poor kitty like it would one of its toys. They were about the same size, so at least the kitten wasn’t too hurt. It was not going to end well though, if the kitty were to stay there, as the puppy would never take it as anything other than something to play with.

Soooooo yeah. That’s how we ended up taking the kitten and basically adopting it. We couldn’t bear the thought of just abandoning it somewhere and letting it..well, die, essentially. The difficult part is that basically none of us know how to take care of a kitten, so the internet will be my best friend for a while. I’m the primary caretaker of it, so I see it as my new baby. After several attempts of naming it, we settled on the quite unimaginative name Katkat.

Katkat on her first night with us

As you can see, one of her eyes is unusually large. We took it to our usual vet, and learned that Katkat has several health issues. The eye is basically infected, so she is now on an antibiotic course for a week. She also has worm issues so she got a shot for that. She is also underweight, probably because she’s been a stray for a while. The positive thing is that the vet estimated her age at around 2.5 months, so she’s no longer that delicate and is definitely weaned. She’s now also on a multivitamin course, and I am instructed to increase her diet to get her weight back on track. So far so good, although it’s a daily battle whenever I have to administer her antibiotic and multivitamin.

This is my best current photo of Katkat. Most of my other photos just feature a streak of black and white.

I thought I’m a dog person, I really did! But I can’t take my mind off my kitty, oftentimes daydreaming about her and her funny antics. And I even dreamt that I stumbled upon another stray, and consequently adopting that too! The vet was not any help either, saying that this is how it all starts, and related her own story of adopting strays that now amounted to a total of 16 cats! Frankly I’m still in denial that I actually have a cat. What I don’t deny is that I’ve fallen in love with her! ❤

It will be my second Blogapalooza in a row! This year is going to be bigger and with different brands reaching out to bloggers. I’ll be dropping by probably sometime in the afternoon, hopefully just in time for a couple of the featured talks. Are you going? Let me know!

I recently got some new things and am in the process of trying them out.

Makeup Stuff

Pixy Ultimate Makeup Cake in Peach Beige – I got this from the Pixy Launch event, and is the first time in a long time I’ve gone back to pressed powder foundation. I’ve recently gone back to BB cream when it became rainy, and I used loose powder foundation (Ellana) during the summer months. I’m slowly readjusting myself back to powder foundation with this product.

Pixy Blush On in Brown Tea – Another one from the Pixy Launch, this one is really quite brown and Kira suggested it can be used as contour. What a great way to start learning how to contour! Hopefully I can show you some swatches and trial fotd’s with this as contouring powder.

Happy Skin SS Creme in Natural Beige – I’ve been meaning to try Happy Skin for the longest time. Thanks for my fairy godmother (my awesome awesome MIL) I got to finally dip my toes in the brand. This SS Creme (Silicone Free Foundation) is on top of my wishlist, primarily because I want to see how it fares against my pores. The fact that it’s silicone free is pretty nice because it causes less chances of my sensitive skin flaring up. I got the darker of the two available shades.

Happy Skin Shut Up & Kiss Me Moisturizing Lippie in The Morning After – Another one from my benefactor. And yeah, I finally caved in and admitted that maybe I should look into nude shades for my lipsticks. This one has been on the rave lists of many of the bloggers that I read, and I figured I should give it a shot. So far I’m liking how it feels on my lips! I’ll definitely put up a review of this soon.

K-Palette Real Lasting Eyebrow Mascara in Natural Brown – In my last testing list, I tried out the Maybelline Fashion Brow Mascara. While I like it enough, I have some issues with it’s really big brush head. I wanted a brow mascara that used much tinier brushes, and K-Palette recently released just that. I liked what I saw from the press releases through local blogs, so I availed myself of this as well. I’m a bit afraid this might be too light for my brows though, as my hair is undyed. This is the final item I got from my wonderful MIL’s birthday gift. 😀

Nippon Makeup Remover Lotion – I’m about to run out of my current Bifesta bottle, and I thought that was the perfect time to try out some stuff I have in my stash. This one is part of my gift pack from The Beauty Junkee, This is different from the usual makeup removers I’m used to, because this is actually some sort of lotion (as it says on the product name!). I found that I just need to massage this all over my made up face, wipe it off with some cotton or tissue, and the makeup comes off with it! It doesn’t quite manage to remove stubborn waterproof mascara, but it can remove the rest pretty well.

Inglot Sleeks Platinum Lip Paint – Another one from the TBJ gift pack, I was attracted to this because of the “lip paint” part. I’ve been curious about the lip paints like Limecrime, OCC Lip Tars, and the like, and I’m hoping this is going to be somewhat like that. It has quite a strange sheen to it (the platinum part, I think), but I like the shade so far.

Celeteque Advanced Anti-Aging Cleansing Oil – This is one of the two products recently released and presented during the Celeteque Anniversary Event. It’s a reformulation of the old Cleansing Oil, which I’ve been a faithful user of, since I find that it removes waterproof mascara quite well. [On aside: I just discovered I haven’t reviewed the cleansing oil yet! But the point is moot now that it’s phased out, haha!] This reformulation enables it to be both the old makeup remover, but at the same time it also performs as an emusifying oil cleanser! I’m quite intrigued, and at Php249 per bottle it’s hard to argue!

Non Makeup Stuff

Bio-Oil – This of course came from the Beauties and Babies Glamourbox, and is the very first thing I tried. I’m using this to currently treat my numerous arm scars, and with only three weeks of (non-continuous) use there has been some promising improvement! I hope I don’t forget to document it, so I can show it to you! I’m loving this oil so far, and dread the time I run out of it.

Vitress Instant Relax Cuticle Coat – I have to admit that I’ve always turned my nose up at Vitress, primarily because I didn’t have good experience with hair oils. I’ve always felt that my hair is greasy and weighed down whenever I use hair oils, so I stopped considering it. When I received this at the Vitress event, I thought I’d give it another shot. I’m surprised to find out that it broke all my expectations about hair oil! I think I’m a convert! 😀

Snoe Body Ritual Recipes Honey Bath Syrup in Nectarine Ginger Tea – Another one from the TBJ gift pack. I didn’t really have high hopes for this, because it’s an exfoliant. I’ve had mostly bad experiences with exfoliating washes, because of my sensitive skin. However, I couldn’t resist the scent of this! So yummy smelling it makes me want to take a bath many times!

The Body Shop Chocomania Body Lotion – Lastly, again from the TBJ gift pack, my very first The Body Shop lotion! I’m a huge fan of chocolate, and I couldn’t really resist trying this out, even if I still have a lot of opened lotion bottles to finish. It smells so much like chocolate, I’m afraid I’m going to wake up one day covered in ants! Lovely, but could be a little overwhelming to some.